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Football began in Saudi Arabia in the last century and truly, they remain one of the best countries in Asia until today.
The Saudi Arabia Football Federation (FF) was founded in 1959 and they quickly enrolled themselves into the FIFA and AFC membership in the same year. After settling all the administrative matters, Saudi FF began organising domestic tournaments.
With regards to local competitions, Saudi FF organises a huge number of competitions to keep its players in a competitive form.
Per year, they organise 10 different club competitions for the 153 clubs that falls under Saudi FF purview. Among the more popular competitions they organise are the Premier League for senior, U-23 and U-17, First Division for senior, U-23, Youth and U-17, FA Cup, Second Division and Youth Championship.
Saudi football has achieved many successes, be it at the regional or international level. They have won the Gulf Cup three times and never missed the Asian Cup final match since 1984 until 2000. The first time they failed to qualify for the finals was in 2004 when they were knocked out in the group stages.
In total, Saudi have reached the finals five times and won the title three times in 1984, 1988 and 1996. In 1992 and 2000, they lost to Japan by a similar score line of 1-0. At a higher level, Saudi reached the World Cup finals three times in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
However, Saudi's biggest achievement to date is winning the FIFA U-17 Championship in 1989, defeating Scotland in the final which was also Asia first success at the world level.
Looking at Saudi's active participation and numerous successes, one should not be surprised as football is the number one sport in the country.
According to statistics, there are 16,160 registered players playing football at different levels from junior to senior, 531 referees which 10 are of international standing and coaches that number 260.
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